Nov. 28, 2007

Milwaukee - The Marquette University men's tennis team has signed Drake Kakar and Jonathan Schwerin to a National Letter of Intent, head coach Steve Rodecap announced Wednesday afternoon.

Both players will arrive on campus next fall and have four years of eligibility with the Golden Eagles.

Kakar attends Chaparral High School in Paradise Valley, Ariz., and has already enjoyed a successful tennis career. A member of the varsity squad since his freshman campaign, Kakar has advanced to the championship match of the state singles tournament each of the past two seasons. He has also served as team captain each of those years.

Kakar was ranked 85th in the nation in singles and 34th in doubles in 2006 and was 158th nationally in singles play in 2004. He has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in both singles and doubles in the Southwest District in each of the past four years.

"Drake is a very talented and disciplined athlete and has the capabilities to be an outstanding college tennis player," Rodecap said. "One of the initial qualities that stood out in the recruiting process was how important the team concept was to him. He has really worked hard on developing an attacking style of play and that will pay off for him in college."

Schwerin was inserted into the No. 1 position as a freshman at Madison East High School and has held onto that spot since. He has already claimed a Big Eight Conference singles championship during his career and last year finished fifth in the state tournament.

Schwerin is currently ranked seventh in the state of Wisconsin by the United States Tennis Association. He posted a 17-4 overall record and earned two event titles last season.

"We are excited to keep Jonathan in the state and we really feel he will develop into a great player at the collegiate level," Rodecap said. "At 6-6, he has the size and his serve is certainly a weapon that will allow him to have a successful career. He has developed over the last year and his scores keep improving as a result."

Marquette loses a trio of seniors - Brett Binkley, Greg Sirotek and Pete Van Lieshout - to graduation in 2007-08.